Gabby Agbonlahor

[P3te]

 he has never shown his full ability

I think he has, that's the problem

[Ingram85]

I guess you're right there.

[weedman]

I find the Gabby hate quite amusing at times really. I mean, no one has ever said he is a world class player (except possibly as a joke), and yet some people seem to expect him to be and he comes in for huge amounts of criticism when he isn't.

 

I mean, people have moaned constantly about Paul Lambert mishandling Benteke. It's Lamberts fault that Benteke isn't scoring, its poor tactics, poor formation, he's unhappy that's why he doesn't move, just a little 2 year blip in an otherwise phenomenal 8 month career blah blah blah. All this despite Benteke being the damn near record signing focal point of the team playing in his preferred position up front where 90% of our (albeit still very limited) chances will fall to

 

Then you have Gabby, a more limited player, who, having played up front for most of his career decided he needed a bit more "Carew" about him and bulked up, way too quickly as it happened, leaving him out of shape the following season until he got more up to speed with it. Once he had gotten up to speed with his new strength, he was immediately thrown out onto the wing where none of it matters, and told to play football as a winger who can defend, completely negating anything he had done previously as a striker and making the whole reason for his bulking up completely redundant and yet, according to the masses it would seem, Benteke is due to poor management, Gabby is because he's lazy and stealing a living. Go figure

[rodders0223]

I find the Gabby hate quite amusing at times really. I mean, no one has ever said he is a world class player (except possibly as a joke), and yet some people seem to expect him to be and he comes in for huge amounts of criticism when he isn't.

 

I mean, people have moaned constantly about Paul Lambert mishandling Benteke. It's Lamberts fault that Benteke isn't scoring, its poor tactics, poor formation, he's unhappy that's why he doesn't move, just a little 2 year blip in an otherwise phenomenal 8 month career blah blah blah. All this despite Benteke being the damn near record signing focal point of the team playing in his preferred position up front where 90% of our (albeit still very limited) chances will fall to

 

Then you have Gabby, a more limited player, who, having played up front for most of his career decided he needed a bit more "Carew" about him and bulked up, way too quickly as it happened, leaving him out of shape the following season until he got more up to speed with it. Once he had gotten up to speed with his new strength, he was immediately thrown out onto the wing where none of it matters, and told to play football as a winger who can defend, completely negating anything he had done previously as a striker and making the whole reason for his bulking up completely redundant and yet, according to the masses it would seem, Benteke is due to poor management, Gabby is because he's lazy and stealing a living. Go figure

 

He's been a semior player for 10 years and he still can't control a football.

[BOF]

The discussion about Gabby's presence in the team beyond this season needs to be put on hold until we know which division we'll be playing in

[weedman]

But he can control a football, of course he's no Hazard where the ball is going to stick to him like glue every time it comes his way - the problem is people's minds have been made up and when a game comes where he will miscontrol maybe 1 out of 10 passes, its the 1 that people remember and crucify him for. Benteke has been infinitely more wasteful this season, but again, that's blamed on a "lack of confidence and mismanagement"

 

The problem I believe stems from how both players began their careers, Gabby was always seen as a sprinter, nothing more - I think even MON or one of the coaches at the time said that when he made his debut he really couldn't play football, just run in a straight line - but that was said as a precursor to how far he's come along since then and developed his game - but since that's the opinion that people naturally formed when he started playing, even when he got better people seemed to just expect the good performances to be 'more luck than judgement' and waited for him to inevitably make another mistake so they could say "I told you so". Now he's career has been seriously threatened as a result of this mismanagement the "I knew he was awful straight away" people are in with a vengeance, no mention of him constantly being played out of position.

 

You compare to Benteke who's first season he was like a freight train destroying teams and scoring goals for fun before losing his form - form that is still lost 2 years later, and everyone is more inclined to think the poor form is nothing more than a blip, its not his fault, how could ANYONE score goals or move 3 feet with this service, he was injured etc etc.

 

I'm not saying Gabby is a great player, far from it, but I do believe he has a place in this team as it stands. The chronic mismanagement excuse cannot only be applied to players we like, it has to apply to all and that includes Gabby. It really irks me when people will moan about how lazy he is and how he doesn't care when it was only 2 days ago against Hull, following another error in a long line of errors from Delph recently that he chased back 50/60 yards and made a tackle on the edge of our own box - while playing as a striker!

 

He isn't a gifted player but he does work hard and I feel that is the level of commitment that we need while entrenched in a relegation battle and should be applauded. Instead it gets ignored and he's berated because he missed a pass once in the game - I can all but guarantee that had that been Benteke, and it was Benteke that chased 50/60 yards back towards his own goal to make a tackle on a striker charging towards our goal, with the rest of his performance being identical it would be all people were talking about on here, how it proves that he's not lazy, proves it is Lamberts tactics after all etc etc.

 

Something else to consider from this season

 

Games involving Gabby - Pld 23, Won, 5, Drawn 6, Lost 12, GF 9, GA 16, Pts 21 =

 

0.91 pts per game

22% win ratio

0.39 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 23 - Goals 3 = (0.130 goals per game)

(remember he has not played up front for the majority of those games either, playing out of position on the wing)

 

Games involving Benteke - Pld 16, Won 2, Drawn 3, Lost 11, GF 4, GA 11, Pts 9

 

0.56 pts per game

13% win ratio

0.25 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 16 - Goals 2 = (0.125 goals per game)

(playing as the figurehead central striker)

 

We have been consistently better as a team with Gabby in it than with Benteke in it...the two goalscoring records this season are virtually identical despite one being a winger at least 60% of the time and the other playing as a striker 100% of the time, who do you think has taken more stick?

[HanoiVillan]

The discussion about Gabby's presence in the team beyond this season needs to be put on hold until we know which division we'll be playing in

 

I agree with this. If we stay up, he should be - at most - in the Shola Ameobi 20 minutes every now and then off the bench type role. Kind of a club mascot, nobody hates him, but nothing actually has to ride on him playing well. 

 

If we go down though, as I've said on other threads, all bets are off, and he probably plays a more crucial role (especially since I can't imagine anyone coming in to buy him). 

[Dave J]

I find the Gabby hate quite amusing at times really. I mean, no one has ever said he is a world class player (except possibly as a joke), and yet some people seem to expect him to be and he comes in for huge amounts of criticism when he isn't.

 

I mean, people have moaned constantly about Paul Lambert mishandling Benteke. It's Lamberts fault that Benteke isn't scoring, its poor tactics, poor formation, he's unhappy that's why he doesn't move, just a little 2 year blip in an otherwise phenomenal 8 month career blah blah blah. All this despite Benteke being the damn near record signing focal point of the team playing in his preferred position up front where 90% of our (albeit still very limited) chances will fall to

 

Then you have Gabby, a more limited player, who, having played up front for most of his career decided he needed a bit more "Carew" about him and bulked up, way too quickly as it happened, leaving him out of shape the following season until he got more up to speed with it. Once he had gotten up to speed with his new strength, he was immediately thrown out onto the wing where none of it matters, and told to play football as a winger who can defend, completely negating anything he had done previously as a striker and making the whole reason for his bulking up completely redundant and yet, according to the masses it would seem, Benteke is due to poor management, Gabby is because he's lazy and stealing a living. Go figure

I figured it out quite some time ago, it's easy really he ain't a very good footballer.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Dave J

[AshVilla]

I hope the new manager coming in gives him a right kick up the arse

[VillaChris]

Usually plays well at the start of a new managers reign so standby for two good games coming up sometime in the next 4 months.

[Dave J]

But he can control a football, of course he's no Hazard where the ball is going to stick to him like glue every time it comes his way - the problem is people's minds have been made up and when a game comes where he will miscontrol maybe 1 out of 10 passes, its the 1 that people remember and crucify him for. Benteke has been infinitely more wasteful this season, but again, that's blamed on a "lack of confidence and mismanagement"

 

The problem I believe stems from how both players began their careers, Gabby was always seen as a sprinter, nothing more - I think even MON or one of the coaches at the time said that when he made his debut he really couldn't play football, just run in a straight line - but that was said as a precursor to how far he's come along since then and developed his game - but since that's the opinion that people naturally formed when he started playing, even when he got better people seemed to just expect the good performances to be 'more luck than judgement' and waited for him to inevitably make another mistake so they could say "I told you so". Now he's career has been seriously threatened as a result of this mismanagement the "I knew he was awful straight away" people are in with a vengeance, no mention of him constantly being played out of position.

 

You compare to Benteke who's first season he was like a freight train destroying teams and scoring goals for fun before losing his form - form that is still lost 2 years later, and everyone is more inclined to think the poor form is nothing more than a blip, its not his fault, how could ANYONE score goals or move 3 feet with this service, he was injured etc etc.

 

I'm not saying Gabby is a great player, far from it, but I do believe he has a place in this team as it stands. The chronic mismanagement excuse cannot only be applied to players we like, it has to apply to all and that includes Gabby. It really irks me when people will moan about how lazy he is and how he doesn't care when it was only 2 days ago against Hull, following another error in a long line of errors from Delph recently that he chased back 50/60 yards and made a tackle on the edge of our own box - while playing as a striker!

 

He isn't a gifted player but he does work hard and I feel that is the level of commitment that we need while entrenched in a relegation battle and should be applauded. Instead it gets ignored and he's berated because he missed a pass once in the game - I can all but guarantee that had that been Benteke, and it was Benteke that chased 50/60 yards back towards his own goal to make a tackle on a striker charging towards our goal, with the rest of his performance being identical it would be all people were talking about on here, how it proves that he's not lazy, proves it is Lamberts tactics after all etc etc.

 

Something else to consider from this season

 

Games involving Gabby - Pld 23, Won, 5, Drawn 6, Lost 12, GF 9, GA 16, Pts 21 =

 

0.91 pts per game

22% win ratio

0.39 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 23 - Goals 3 = (0.130 goals per game)

(remember he has not played up front for the majority of those games either, playing out of position on the wing)

 

Games involving Benteke - Pld 16, Won 2, Drawn 3, Lost 11, GF 4, GA 11, Pts 9

 

0.56 pts per game

13% win ratio

0.25 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 16 - Goals 2 = (0.125 goals per game)

(playing as the figurehead central striker)

 

We have been consistently better as a team with Gabby in it than with Benteke in it...the two goalscoring records this season are virtually identical despite one being a winger at least 60% of the time and the other playing as a striker 100% of the time, who do you think has taken more stick?

Weedman with all due respect all you are doing here is comparing Gabby who quite frankly is not capable of being any better than he is right now because this is what he is full stop against a clearly out of sorts Benteke who is clearly a much better and gifted player than what we are witnessing at the moment. He is a professional footballer for goodness sake, if he cant handle playing in different positions then I'm afraid there is no place for him in the premier league, and don't get me started on his scoring record

[Dave J]

 

Lerner aside, there is no one I dislike more than gabby, to me he appears a half arsed, nearly invisible, stroppy con man. How he has such high regard I'll never understand, he has never shown his full ability, lives of his local boy tag and the only reason he is described as loyal - and because he is loyal we should stick by him - is largely down to the fact that the bigger clubs see him for the underperforming/happy to get his wages bang average player that he is and have never tried to coax him away. I wonder why that is.

 

Then you have the recurring leader of the locker room and player power nonsense that crops up everytime we are in trouble. To me he will be a spoiled little gormless brat from now on. Time for him to move on imo. Though you could say that about a lot of or squad but Gabby has gotten away with being the little local darling for most of his career. I've had enough of him. I'm not gonna say anyone who loves him is an idiot or anything, too much of that on this board, this is purely just my opinion and I'm just having a rant. 

 

I've let off steam in the Lerner thread too. Too many people are letting the true poisonous types in our club get away with it and focus all of their efforts and bile on Lambert. I'm guessing the next manager will get it in the neck next instead despite being the 5th or 6th guy since MON to fail. Yet there are one or two other constants who always escape it all.

 

I have never rated this clown, not from the day i very first saw him pull on the shirt. I used to get unbelievable stick from my mates about this, but deep down i knew in time that i would be proved right.  He is just not good enough, never has been, and never will be. 

[weedman]

 

But he can control a football, of course he's no Hazard where the ball is going to stick to him like glue every time it comes his way - the problem is people's minds have been made up and when a game comes where he will miscontrol maybe 1 out of 10 passes, its the 1 that people remember and crucify him for. Benteke has been infinitely more wasteful this season, but again, that's blamed on a "lack of confidence and mismanagement"

 

The problem I believe stems from how both players began their careers, Gabby was always seen as a sprinter, nothing more - I think even MON or one of the coaches at the time said that when he made his debut he really couldn't play football, just run in a straight line - but that was said as a precursor to how far he's come along since then and developed his game - but since that's the opinion that people naturally formed when he started playing, even when he got better people seemed to just expect the good performances to be 'more luck than judgement' and waited for him to inevitably make another mistake so they could say "I told you so". Now he's career has been seriously threatened as a result of this mismanagement the "I knew he was awful straight away" people are in with a vengeance, no mention of him constantly being played out of position.

 

You compare to Benteke who's first season he was like a freight train destroying teams and scoring goals for fun before losing his form - form that is still lost 2 years later, and everyone is more inclined to think the poor form is nothing more than a blip, its not his fault, how could ANYONE score goals or move 3 feet with this service, he was injured etc etc.

 

I'm not saying Gabby is a great player, far from it, but I do believe he has a place in this team as it stands. The chronic mismanagement excuse cannot only be applied to players we like, it has to apply to all and that includes Gabby. It really irks me when people will moan about how lazy he is and how he doesn't care when it was only 2 days ago against Hull, following another error in a long line of errors from Delph recently that he chased back 50/60 yards and made a tackle on the edge of our own box - while playing as a striker!

 

He isn't a gifted player but he does work hard and I feel that is the level of commitment that we need while entrenched in a relegation battle and should be applauded. Instead it gets ignored and he's berated because he missed a pass once in the game - I can all but guarantee that had that been Benteke, and it was Benteke that chased 50/60 yards back towards his own goal to make a tackle on a striker charging towards our goal, with the rest of his performance being identical it would be all people were talking about on here, how it proves that he's not lazy, proves it is Lamberts tactics after all etc etc.

 

Something else to consider from this season

 

Games involving Gabby - Pld 23, Won, 5, Drawn 6, Lost 12, GF 9, GA 16, Pts 21 =

 

0.91 pts per game

22% win ratio

0.39 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 23 - Goals 3 = (0.130 goals per game)

(remember he has not played up front for the majority of those games either, playing out of position on the wing)

 

Games involving Benteke - Pld 16, Won 2, Drawn 3, Lost 11, GF 4, GA 11, Pts 9

 

0.56 pts per game

13% win ratio

0.25 goals scored per game

Personal record - Played 16 - Goals 2 = (0.125 goals per game)

(playing as the figurehead central striker)

 

We have been consistently better as a team with Gabby in it than with Benteke in it...the two goalscoring records this season are virtually identical despite one being a winger at least 60% of the time and the other playing as a striker 100% of the time, who do you think has taken more stick?

Weedman with all due respect all you are doing here is comparing Gabby who quite frankly is not capable of being any better than he is right now because this is what he is full stop against a clearly out of sorts Benteke who is clearly a much better and gifted player than what we are witnessing at the moment. He is a professional footballer for goodness sake, if he cant handle playing in different positions then I'm afraid there is no place for him in the premier league, and don't get me started on his scoring record

 

Is that what i'm doing? Or am I comparing two players both out of form who have both performed far better in the past?

 

Look, I didnt want to turn this into a "Gabby is better than Benteke" thing, because I dont believe that - I was simply pointing out the facts and those facts show that a) Gabby has been better this season, despite the abuse, at this moment in time Benteke is nothing more than a 1 season wonder who has completely failed to live up to the hype c) Benteke has been here 2.5 years and has already tried to jump ship once, Gabby has been here his whole career and repeatedly stated he wont leave unless pushed (and you may think thats said with a lack of options, but believe me there were definitely options for him during the MON years, he was very highly regarded outside of Villa), so I simply find it amusing that the same people that are furious with the likes of Stewart Downing for his "lack of loyalty" will openly lambast our most loyal player and pick apart every game, and every mistake with a fine toothcombe while resting all their hopes on a man who cant even be bothered to TRY and play football while out of form

 

I believe Gabby is a limited footballer, for sure, it just a wind up that people go on calling him lazy etc when he is one of the hardest working players in the team who would probably put his hand up and volounteer to play in goal if Guzan got injured, and those same people idolise Benteke who wont even move 3 yards away from his designated position if his bloody life depended on it.

 

EDIT - Oh, and have a look at other wingers playing for relegation threatened teams goalscoring records...none of them score many bar the odd exception. Basically Gabby is being berated for performing at the same level as other similar players in similar standard teams in the same league...

Edited February 12, 2015 by weedman

[TezzRexx]

Gabby is a complete word removed. His attitude is terrible and he's constantly calling fans "broke tramps" and suchlike on Keek/Twitter. Funny how he always performs when a contract renewal is near, too.

 

Would love it if he left tomorrow.

[weedman]

Gabby is a complete word removed. His attitude is terrible and he's constantly calling fans "broke tramps" and suchlike on Keek/Twitter. Funny how he always performs when a contract renewal is near, too.

 

Would love it if he left tomorrow.

 

Whats keek? I've never seen him say anything negative about fans and he is not on twitter

[TRO]

He hasn't scored since November....nuff said.

[weedman]

He hasn't scored since November....nuff said.

 

And the rest of our team have been well and truly banging them in in that period have they?

[Cliffy Biro]

He seems to have a lot of influence around the club and that worries me, he's thick as pig shit and a stunningly average footballer.

[meregreen]

First out the door for me. Not that anyone else would want him. 

[Zatman]

yeah im worried by his influence, maybe the idiot act is just that and he is a psychological mastermind. Whatever it is he seems like a poison in the dressing room and I think some labels of the media know this but rarely mentioned.